H1N1 flu strain hits Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh hospital officials said an older woman with an underlying medical condition has died and eight others have been so seriously sickened by the H1N1 flu strain that they require machine assistance.

Dr. Donald Yealy, chief of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that one woman has died. Her name isn’t being released because of medical privacy laws.

At UPMC Presbyterian hospital, four patients have become so ill they’re hooked up to a machine that helps their hearts and lungs function. Yealy said those patients are dealing with “the most serious complications short of death.”

Officials at Allegheny General Hospital have four swine flu patients receiving assistance from the same type of machine.

Yealy said five other UPMC swine flu patients are critically ill, but not being treated with the machine.